This is a thriller than gives you no respite especially as we are aware it's based on real life.  During the period when ETA was most active in the Basque lands, no one could live completely normally. The conflict ate its way into people’s lives at all levels. People learnt not to talk too much in public, no one wanted to be mistaken for an informer or a terrorist, or to suffer a shot to the back of the neck or arrest and torture.  

A normal street scene could suddenly be transformed with a bus blowing up or shots being fired in a café.  Today few people even understand why the movement began at all, and the terrible pressures from the Franco government that created it. Much of this was clarified in the famous ‘Burgos Trials’ that opened up many of the issues for people to see. But it was an intolerable situation for all sides. The government, the Civil Guard and the intelligence services were desperate to protect the population, while the Basque militants fought to regain historical traditional rights, removed by Franco, that had been a part of their autonomy for ever.  Then, there was the ever-constant danger of how genuine movements can so often be hijacked by other parties who stand to gain, including drug traffickers and those fighting for political leverage, with many lost on the way.

Luis Tosa as Chief Inspector Salcedo and Carolina Yuste as Arantxa

Police Officer Mónica Marín is fresh out of the police academy, when she is approached to go undercover. A calm intelligent girl, beautifully played by Carolina Yuste, (Sky High) carries the role with conviction and aplomb. With a minimum gesture or expression, she expresses a great deal and pulls us into her traumatic existence. 

She had only one condition: that she could take her car 'Sau'.    In that impossible situation, despite her cool exterior, we cannot help but wait for her to collapse under the strain. Yet, somehow, even after 6 years undercover, this woman proves to be tougher than she looks.   For years, she leaves behind her life as Mónica Marín and become Aranzazu Berradre Marín.  She has forgone her family and friends and lives as someone else in San Sebastian.  She even works as a butcher, where she carefully eavesdrops on the local gossip.

Luis Tosa (Fatum, Retribution), Chief Inspector Ángel Salcedo, is her handler.  He has a powerful magnetic presence on screen, and despite being nicknamed Mr Inhuman by his colleagues, there is little inhumanity about him. If anything, he displays enormous empathy for Arantxa, understanding her predicament very thoroughly and carries the weight of this tough responsibility. 

Interestingly from the start, her being a woman almost excludes her completely from being considered for the operation.  The mayor is adamant  that all the recruits should be lads or they could end up as sex slaves. Salcedo disagrees. 

In the discussion:

 “You are asking me to take five girls just out of the [Police] Academy … 

" The Civil Guard will get all the glory… "

"and what happens when they end up with a bullet in the head?"

“Sacrifices are necessary.”

“They must be as plain as this table. Not too ugly or attractive, not stand out… and malleable.”

Yet, in the end, of five recruits, Arantxa was the only one to survive the stress of living as someone else for over 7 years. The stakes could not be higher, as Salcedo explains to her from the start: -

"‘Covert’ operations are backed by a judge… ‘undercover’ [you are on your own]-  it can take years, no one can know who you are… you have to distance yourself from everyone… if you screw up you could end up with your ass in prison- there would be no state funeral., and no one will know about your sacrifices, even if it goes well,  there will be no recognition of your services. You do not exist to the world”. 

The film does not give us a moment of relief.  At times little seems to be happening, but we are constantly on a knife-edge expecting her to be discovered or even thrown to the wolves at a moment’s notice.  

It is truly disturbing to hear the young ETA member, Kepa Echevarría (Iñigo Gastesi), who has taken refuge in Arantxa’s apartment, describe his botched attempted murder of a police officer. So calm and callous, more concerned with his gun jamming than the life of another human being. It is chilling. This leads Arantxa to howl silent screams in her bathtub as she is also aware she is falling for this ‘murderer.’ It does not take Salcedo much to shake her back to reality when he begins to see that she is developing empathy with this young terrorist.  Arantza starts to find her situation unnerving.

Pepe Ocío as Bodhi and Nausicaa Bonnin as Andrea

There are excruciating moments when it seems impossible that she can survive. Knowing these were real events, heightens the tension and the suspense.  How she survive, by the skin of her teeth, situations that would have floored most people, is staggering. 

The warm and bubbly director Arantxa Echevarría, (‘Chinas’, and ‘Carmen y Lola’- (see  https://www.latinolife.co.uk/articles/carmen-lola-2018-forbidden-gypsy-love ) has created a memorable thriller, possibly the best of her films so far.     She has moved from her usual subject matter into new ground, so it will be interesting to see where she goes next.  Born in Bilbao she is Basque and has garnered a number of prestigious awards including a Goya for ‘Carmen and Lola’ (2018).  ‘Undercover’ has already got  13 wins under its belt and 25 nominations in total. 

Arantxa Echevarría, Writer/ Director

The film is almost minimal, very finely directed.  Nothing is wasted, there are few frills, so there is little to stop the constant rise in tension. In particular when Sergio Polo (Diego Anido) takes over Arantxa’s apartment. Her courage in confronting him is spine-chilling.

Diego Anido as Sergio Polo 

After 7 years undercover, Arantxa is frustrated because she feels she has not achieved anything of value. Her handler reminds her that many people’s lives have been saved thanks to her, but she still feels the need to be on the front line.  The character of Sergio Polo borders on caricature, yet the nervous paranoia he displays is, in fact, quite accurate of people living in his situation.  He was proved to be right to suspect her, after all.  

Did Arantxa ever get to have real doubts about her decisions. We cannot know, is she in the end also able to be callous? What kind of individual can compartmentalize their lives in this way?  Well, Arantxa succeeds with amazing success, so much so that in the end credits, we are told she has now been invited to go undercover with Narco traffickers.  

Does ‘Undercover’ the sequel, beckon?

La Infiltrada (Undercover) 2024-

Director: Arantxa Echevarría  / Writers: Arantxa Echevarría, Amèlia Mora, María Luisa Gutiérrez/ DOP: Javier and Daniel Salmones  /  Production: Álvaro Ariza, Mercedes Gamero, María Luisa Gutiérrez and Pablo Nogueroles / Music: Fernando Velázquez / Editor: Victoria Lammers/ Sound Designer/Supervisor: Miriam Lisón and Jorge Castillo Ballesteros.

Cast: 

Arantxa: Carolina Yuste  / Kepa: Iñigo Gastesi / Chief inspector Ángel Salcedo: Luis Tosa / Sergio Polo: Diego Anido / Andrea: Nausicaa Bonnin / Bodhi: Pepe Ocío / Teruel: Victor Clavijo /

Film Factory / Infiltrada LP Bowfinger int Pictures Spain